A recent NPR interview with controversial pastor Doug Wilson is highlighting the growing influence of Christian nationalism in American political and cultural life ― as well as alarming the experts and survivors who know this movement well.
Wilson, who co-founded the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC, spoke to journalist Leila Fadel about his vision for a Christian theocracy and doubled down on his view that women should not have the right to vote. Calling the repeal of the 19th Amendment “a good idea,” he argued in favor of a “household voting” system in which this right is effectively limited to male heads of household.
The controversies don’t begin and end with women’s suffrage and role in society. Wilson has faced sustained criticism for his writings on slavery, his statements on homosexuality, his use of derogatory slurs and provocative metaphors, and his church’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse.
Wilson is not a fringe figure. He has a documented relationship with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who even invited Wilson to give a sermon at the Pentagon. As his brand of Christian nationalism gains an unprecedented foothold in the halls of power, experts are warning about the harm of his ideology and its distance from the teachings of Christ.
Cait West, author of “Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy,” grew up in a family and church greatly influenced by Wilson and the head-of-household framework he promotes.
“He spoke at my church. We subscribed to his magazine. We read his books and listened to his sermons on tape,” she told HuffPost. “During congregational meetings when we would vote on electing church leaders, the ballot slips would be passed to the head of each household, typically the father. He could decide whether to fill out each slip or pass them to his family. During political elections, my father would tell my mother who to vote for.”
She noted that leaders like Wilson like to point to head-of-household voting as if it is a common-sense policy.
“But it effectively removes all power from women, which is exactly the point of Christian patriarchy,” West said.
Theologian and writer Cara Meredith was familiar with the world of the CREC through friends who attended these churches.
“To them, marriage was the highest office a man could achieve and a woman could complement,” she told HuffPost. “Under this biblical umbrella, God was the head, man fell under the head, and women fell under man.”
To understand why Wilson’s views are so alarming, it helps to understand their ideological roots.
“Wilson’s theonomy cherry-picks from the Old Testament and the letters of Paul. They skip Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount for the most part, and likewise skip any critical thought over applying ancient Levitical texts to modern American civic code, as well as the American distinction of separating church and state,” said Tia Levings, a former Christian fundamentalist and author of “A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape From Christian Patriarchy.”
“Wilson teaches a static, Calvinist, unchanging view of God that doesn’t allow for growth or expansion. His views are largely self-determined. He didn’t attend seminary,” she added.
His ideology stems from a broader movement in U.S. Christianity.
“Wilson’s views are rooted in and related to the Christian Reconstructionist movement, which derived from the ideas of a group of reformed evangelicals around a theologian named R.J. Rushdoony, who was around in the 1970s and 1980s,” said Matthew Bowman, a professor of history and religion at Claremont Graduate University. “Rushdoony in particular believed that various social organizations ― politics, entertainment, the economy ― should be organized according to explicitly Christian principles. Of course, by ‘Christian’ he meant his version of Christianity.”
Is there even a biblical basis for any of this?
Wilson and his supporters frame their views as “biblical,” but experts say that framing deserves scrutiny.
Many Christian denominations ― and particularly evangelicals like Wilson and Rushdoony ― will use the word ‘biblical’ or ‘Christian’ to refer simply to their interpretation of the Bible or Christianity,” Bowman said. “But the Bible is an extremely complicated and ambiguous text. ‘Christianity’ is an extremely complicated and old tradition.”
Wilson has said he does not believe Roman Catholics or Mormons are Christian, but as Bowman pointed out, there is no “ultimate arbiter, no Supreme Court,” that can make a ruling about which interpretation of Christianity or the Bible is correct.
“So when Wilson says it is ‘biblical’ or ‘Christian’ for men to hold headship over women, what he’s really saying is that Christian Reconstructionists like him believe in it,” Bowman said. “There are other Christians who would say that his interpretation of the Bible and his interpretation of Christianity are neither biblical nor Christian. In fact, there are many Christians who argue that the Bible and Christianity teach gender equality. The Bible and Christianity can be mobilized to serve many points of view.”
Patriarchal assumptions are even reflected in the translation of Scripture ― the English Standard Version ― which many denominations with these beliefs use, West said. She noted that one of its translation committee members co-founded the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
The churches that adhere to such views tend to emphasize the Old Testament, which features stories of theocracy, over the New Testament emphasis on a spiritual kingdom.
“Patriarchal leaders like Doug Wilson pick and choose the parts of Scripture that fit their vision of a modern patriarchy and call it ‘biblical,’” West said.
April Ajoy, author of “Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith,” similarly sees a highly selective reading of religious texts in these Christian nationalist movements.
“Christian nationalism is the antithesis of the teachings of Jesus, and I believe a quest for a theocracy is a grave misinterpretation of Scripture,” she said. “The verses they use to justify their misogynistic beliefs come from Ephesians 5:22-23, where it says ‘Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body.’ Using these verses to justify teaching a wife’s complete obedience to her husband ignores the verse right before it that says ‘Submit yourselves to one another.’”
She added that this reading also overlooks cultural contexts of biblical passages and the many women who served as leaders in the early church, including Junia, Mary Magdalene, Deborah, Phoebe and Priscilla.
What would Wilson’s vision actually mean for women?
When Wilson talks about “household voting,” he frames it as a matter of family unity rather than gender. But those familiar with his movement say that framing is misleading.
“Wilson may say that he doesn’t want men or women voting as a single household, that it’s about the combined power of the collective household vote, but Wilson isn’t lying when he jokes, ‘Because it’s a good idea,’” Meredith said. “To Doug Wilson, household voting is a good idea, not because it promotes a man and a woman who are married to each other being on the same page, but because it further silences the one he most wants to silence: women.”
She believes Wilson views women as secondary, designed by God to be helpers to men and walk alongside them.
“Removing the right to vote is only one piece to an overarching philosophy of men having power over women,” West said, recalling her years as an unmarried, child-free woman in the Christian patriarchal world.
“As a stay-at-home daughter, I was not allowed to have a job outside the home, go to college, or make decisions about my relationships. I was supposed to vote for whoever my father told me to, and I had to submit to him in all things,” she added.
She was careful to note that experiences vary within Wilson’s denomination, depending on individual circumstances and church policies, but that the underlying principle remains the same.
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